Port Hueneme Police Chief Kathleen Sheehan placed on paid leave

Details of situation not released

Port Hueneme Police Chief Kathleen Sheehan in a 2011 photo. A city official confirmed Dec. 11 Port Hueneme's first female police chief, who arrived in September 2010, resigned after being on paid administrative leave since Nov. 26.

Ventura County Star

Contributed Photo
Chief Kathleen Sheehan

Port Hueneme Police Chief Kathleen Sheehan, the first woman to lead the department, was placed on paid administrative leave Monday, officials confirmed Tuesday.

Lt. Robert Gager will be interim police chief, said Sheehan's supervisor, interim City Manager Dick Velthoen.

Sheehan, who makes about $151,000 per year, will continue collecting her salary. She did not return calls seeking comment.

Sheehan is the second department head to run into trouble in the small community in the past two months.

Velthoen was hired to temporarily take over after City Manager Dave Norman resigned Oct. 8 at the council's request.

"It's a personnel matter, and I can't discuss any details," Velthoen said Tuesday. "It's not possible legally."

Asked when a final determination will be made about Sheehan, he said, "That's all up in the air at this point."

Council members have offered little insight into what is happening at City Hall with the Sheehan and Norman developments, citing confidential personnel rules.

Norman reportedly clashed with Sheehan toward the end of his nearly six years with the city. He hired her from among 56 applicants in September 2010 from Bishop, where she was police chief for three years.

One disagreement between the two was a change in policy that shifted authority in issuing concealed-weapons permits from the Ventura County Sheriff's Office to the Port Hueneme police chief.

California police chiefs have the authority to grant the permits, but sheriff's personnel have handled the local process almost exclusively for years.

Sheehan wrote in a September 2011 memo to the City Council that she would take over that responsibility and do so "very judiciously." Norman and City Attorney Mark Hensley signed off on the process, which was added to the Port Hueneme Police Department's policy manual.

chaplains and a retired city dispatcher, according to copies of the permits obtained by The Star.

By Aug. 1, Norman had canceled the program and ordered five permits — those given to Breeze, Griffaw and the chaplains — returned. The dispatcher's became void when she moved out of state.

When asked about the situation last month, Sheehan said she didn't know why Norman canceled the program. But she said if concealed-weapons permits could help protect people she knew and trusted, she would issue them. Norman declined to comment at the time.

Ventura Police Chief Ken Corney said he received a telephone call Monday from Gager, who said "he would be the agency contact and (Sheehan) had been placed on paid administrative leave."

"I don't know the facts or circumstances," Corney said.

Corney said he saw Sheehan on Nov. 21 at a monthly meeting of area police chiefs, the sheriff and the District Attorney's Office. Sheehan "gave no indication this was a potential outcome at that point in time," Corney said.

Port Hueneme City Attorney Mark Hensley declined to comment because it is a personnel matter.

"To the extent an employee other than the City Manager is placed on administrative leave, it is the City Manager that makes such a decision," Hensley wrote in an email.

Griffaw said he could not discuss the specifics, saying the matter involved personnel issues. But putting Sheehan on leave isn't up to the council, he said, adding that Velthoen has "total discretion on all that stuff."

The council unanimously appointed Velthoen as interim city manager in October, paying him $35 per hour. Velthoen is the former city manager of Port Hueneme, having retired in 2000 after 25 years on the job. He also faced controversy: When he retired, the city and he were facing a federal sexual harassment lawsuit filed by a city employee against him. The sides settled with no admission of liability by any party.

Sheehan has had a long career in law enforcement. She joined the U.S. Justice Department in 2002 and spent two years as a training administrator to fight gangs and organized crime in Pakistan and Indonesia. Before that, she worked 25 years with the Los Angeles Police.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Gager has been with the Port Hueneme Police Department since 1999. He did not return a call seeking comment.